A young Minneapolis couple's preoccupation with food, drinks, culture, and drinks.

Tag Archives: Thanksgiving

After cooking all day Wednesday (late into the night, actually – we didn’t go to bed until after 2:00 a.m.) and starting up early on Thursday morning, we made it through Thanksgiving.

In spite of all the craziness of the last few weeks, cooking and hosting Thanksgiving was something we were both so looking forward to. We knew we wanted to do everything ourselves, and by “do everything,” we mean from scratch. None of this “semi-homemade” mentality (our hatred for Sandra Lee deserves its own post).

Telling friends about our plans inspired some interesting looks and comments (“You’re cooking the entire meal? By yourselves?”). While some admitted that just thinking about hosting Thanksgiving gave them nightmares, we were excited to have both of our families over and to cook our hearts out…and everything turned out beautifully.

Happy first snowfall to all! I usually like the snow to wait until after Thanksgiving, but we’ve held out longer than last year, so I can’t complain too much.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, it’s less than a week away! We are so looking forward to hosting our families and cooking up a storm in our little apartment! In preparation for next week, we’ve been trying to not spend a lot of money on groceries and use up what we have in our refrigerator. A few nights ago, we decided to make a curry. Based on what we added, it turned into more of a curried chili, but that’s what made this meal so great – it was completely adaptable to the ingredients we had on hand!

For our curried chili, we braised two chicken thighs (bone in, skin left on) in some olive oil. In another pot, we combined a can of light coconut milk with a tablespoon of curry paste, and stirred together until the mixture just about boiled. We then poured that over our chicken thighs and added lots of vegetables: green beans, green pepper, tomato, carrots, and cannellini beans that had been soaking throughout the day. Everything was left to simmer for about an hour (we also added some more curry paste to increase the heat); just before serving, we added a handful of golden raisins for sweetness. Andrew sliced up some of his homemade bread for the finishing touch.

We have both had a rather hectic week, but Andrew has completed an important milestone:

he presented his master’s thesis yesterday!

I’m so proud of how hard he has worked throughout this program. It seems like just yesterday that we were running to the mailbox to check on acceptance letters. I’ll always remember opening our tiny apartment mailbox and finding the large square envelope inside (from my own law school application process, I came to learn that big envelopes mean good things!). Now, after three semesters and two summers of full time classes, Andrew has his master’s!

We do have a lot to be thankful for this year – and I can’t wait to celebrate with everyone on Thursday! Ljublju you, Driy!

Happy November to all – grab a hot cider, a cookbook or two, and settle in for some fun reading!

I’ve always loved November. To those in Minnesota, this might make me sound crazy. Right about now, the weather starts to get gloomy, gray, and cold. We start to accept that there won’t be many sunny or warm days ahead, reluctantly bring out the heavy coats, and prepare ourselves for SNOW. Last year, at the beginning of November, we had our first major snow storm of the year…and dealt with the harsh realities of winter until the end of April!

So far so good – no snow here. And despite what most people think about this time of year, I love it. It’s chilly, yes, but it’s crisp and refreshing. I happen to like my hat and gloves. All the coffee shops have their “holiday” cups out. And, best of all, I know that the semester is almost over…and THANKSGIVING is just three weeks away!

Thanksgiving, 2010

The one place that always gets me ready and excited for Thanksgiving is Williams-Sonoma. Whether we go in July or at the end of October, I crave turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. My sister and mom totally gets this – for the past few years, we’ve stopped in before Thanksgiving to get our “essentials,” and always end up leaving with something (usually several somethings) that we didn’t know we needed to make the perfect Thanksgiving dinner. Andrew has admitted to me that this is probably his favorite store, so I’m pretty sure that this tradition will continue long into the future! We have already studied (numerous times, I might add) Sonoma’s Thanksgiving Guide 2011, as we’re hosting both sets of families for dinner. I’m guessing there will be several trips to W-S over the next few weeks…

Now, to focus on school just enough to finish what needs to be done before all the fun begins!